Hegseth's Personal Phone Use Created Vulnerabilities, Analysts Say

[highplainsdem]

Source: NYT

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s personal phone number, the one used in a recent Signal chat, was easily accessible on the internet and public apps as recently as March, potentially exposing national security secrets to foreign adversaries.

The phone number could be found in a variety of places, including WhatsApp, Facebook and a fantasy sports site. It was the same number through which the defense secretary, using the Signal commercial messaging app, disclosed flight data for American strikes on the Houthi militia in Yemen.

Cybersecurity analysts said an American defense secretary’s communications device would usually be among the most protected national security assets.

“There’s zero percent chance that someone hasn’t tried to install Pegasus or some other spyware on his phone,” Mike Casey, the former director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, said in an interview. “He is one of the top five, probably, most targeted people in the world for espionage.”

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Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/25/us/politics/pete-hegseth-phone-signal.html

[moniss]

1. Have any big time media people considered the idea

that creating the vulnerabilities is part of the plan?

[IronLionZion]

2. Who is going to hold them accountable?

No legal consequences? Firing him should be step one. They need to stop using Signal.

[dchill]

3. Who knew...?

[Firestorm49]

4. Hey! Cool. Let's jail a graduate student for standing up for Palestine and play stupid about Hegseth's treason.

[republianmushroom]

5. Lock him up, lock him up.

[Karasu]

6. This investigation needs to be extended to the entire administration. We all know it's not just him.